The influence of a digital spectrum analyzer on the uncertainty in 1/f noise parameters

When noise is used as a diagnostic tool to determine the reliability of a d evice, not only the noise parameters itself, but also the uncertainty in th ese noise parameters are important. For good devices, this uncertainty will be Gaussian. However, because of non-linear measurement errors caused by a digital spectrum analyzer, this uncertainty might deviate from Gaussianity . We have estimated this additional error through simulations. We conclude that this error can often be ignored. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All ri ghts reserved.